


Somethings changing

by stargazinggirl773



Category: Never Back Down (2008 2011)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-08-04 07:44:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16342676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stargazinggirl773/pseuds/stargazinggirl773
Summary: What if Jake and Ryan never fought, and Jake fought someone else, and owned them, instead.  Basically my wish where Jake proves himself to be a badass to Ryan and earns his respect before they become enemies.





	Somethings changing

The moment Eric mentioned his father, Jake saw red. The mass of laughing onlookers and Ryan’s sneer blurred away into a fuzzy smoke, and his vision focused on the taller boy. Distantly, Jake saw Ryan’s smirk fall away into confusion as Jake’s attention shifted, along with that of the crowd’s, and he saw himself reach toward Eric. There was a buzzing in his ears, or more like a roaring sound, and as their fight began the crowd drew in closer, waving arms and screaming encouragement. Despite what his mother said, this wasn’t something he did for fun, or even what he could control. No, fighting was a way to let this heavy darkness settling in his stomach escape, to escape the memories of that horrific night that came suddenly flooding in. Drowning him. Jake threw the first punch, a wild and sloppy move that he knew left him wide open for an attack from the side.

_The bright lights of the bar were distorted in the pools of alcohol spilled along the counter._

Eric turned to the side, evading his swing, and drove his fist up beneath his outreaching arm and into his ribs. Jake let out a low grunt of pain, drowned out by the cheering, and swung again, this time aiming for Eric’s throat.

_The low murmuring of the other customers hidden in the shadows, the creak of the door swing open, a reprieve from the dank, moldy smell from inside._

It was a fast strike, and this time it connected, leaving Eric coughing. He doubled over and Jake stepped in closer. This wasn’t about putting on a show, this was about avenging himself, fighting against whatever had drove him to make that decision that night.

_Jake held out his hand, a little wary of the way his father was stumbling across the gravel. “Dad, the keys.”_

Wrapping his hands around the back of Eric’s bent neck, he brought his right knee up forcefully, knocking the wind out of Eric.

_An offended, joking reply, a moment of hesitation and then acceptance, a dropped hand and a little nod. The crunch of the dirt beneath his feet as he walked to the passenger seat of the truck, his father already in the driver’s._

Jake let more blows rain down against Eric’s face, each jerking his head from side to side, causing blood to run down his nose and across his lips. But the tightness in him wasn’t gone, and Jake didn’t know how to stop. A blueish flickering caught his eye, and without thinking more about it, Jake hauled up Eric struggling figure over one shoulder, and dragged him the pool’s edge. The crowd hurriedly parted for him, and the noise had dialled down to a hushed silence. The water was sparkling, and smelled faintly of chlorine.

_Bright lights getting closer, a yell, a frantic pull at the wheel, his father’s wide eyes as stared back at him in a moment of lucidity._

With a heave, Jake flipped Eric over his shoulder and into the pool, the following splash soaking his jeans. Eric came up sputtering and eyes wide, but Jake was already turning away. Ryan was a silent shadow off to his side, but no one tried to stop him this time as he went to leave, and no one noticed the faint wetness on Jake’s cheeks.

xxx

Jake’s apartment was dark as he closed the door behind him, and he tried to silently make his way to his room before his mother stood in the light at the end of the hallway, pulling her hand back from the switch. Of course. Now that the blackness was mostly gone, only a hollow emptiness was left over in Jake’s chest. He was tired, his knuckles were bleeding, his skin bruised… he was just, done.

And maybe his mother noticed this, because all she said was “Jake…” and placed her palm against the side of his head. There was a time when she was taller than him, but he couldn’t remember it now; towering over her and feeling to big for his own body. They stood there in the dim hallway for a few minutes, while Jake wondered what would happen with Ryan tomorrow. It was funny; he’d come to the party expecting, well, a party. He was too naive, after all, this was highschool, and a time where technology and thus a quest for fame was beginning to dominate. So while Jake spent this moment in time in silence, feeling safe for the first time that night, even if he wasn’t surrounded by expensive cars and large houses, he swore to himself that he’d stop. He loved his father but he’d already taken enough from Jake, why should he keep taking more?

xxx

The sun was blinding as he stepped off the bus the next morning, out of the smelly metal contraption and into the humidity of Orlando, Florida. Students jostled him from all sides, and the chatter was loud, but Jake still got the feeling that he was being watched. A quick glance around revealed that everyone was on their phones, sharing the screen with the friends, and occasionally glancing back at him.

The fight last night had been recorded.

Sighing, Jake rolled his shoulders back and headed for his first class; English. After school that day he was planning to go and watch Max’s first tennis tournament. Today Mr. Kent was teaching the class how to annotate poetry, to pick out shifts and changes in the character’s viewpoint and personal identity. The text was “On a Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien, and Jake was both struggling to understand and ignore the stares he could, the hairs on his neck rising. He felt a tap on his neck and turned, after making sure that Mr. Kent was still outside the classroom.

It was Baja, her golden hair and bright smile as luminous ever. They didn’t feel as kind though, after the treachery of last night, and Jake was weary.

“Hey,” she murmured, blue eyes searching his. He kept his own down, unsure of what she was looking for.

“Hi.” he replied.

“Listen, Jake… I’m so sorry about last night. You didn’t deserve any of that, I’m not even sure how Ryan or any of his buddies found out about what happened to your-” She cut herself off, but Jake knew who she was referring to.

“Why did you trick me, what did you want from me?”

Baja hunched her shoulders, letting her hair hang more in front of her like a shield. “I don’t know. I thought, I just wanted… I don’t have an excuse. The point is I regret it, I’m sorry.” Her friends, the brunette girl and short boy, were watching them from the corner of the room, and Jake thought it over. In the end, he supposed, it didn’t really matter any more. That part of his life was over now, and she deserved as much of a second chance as he wanted for himself in his life.

“You know about any non violent parties here in Orlando?” he asked her. Baja grinned, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear. This time, Jake could luckily see the twinkle in her eyes that he was first attracted to, as he placed his trust in her once more.

xxx

“You know, Eric really has it out for you.” said Baja’s friend, who he had recently learned was Emily. They were walking through the halls towards Biology, the final period of the day. Jake’s shoulders were starting to ache from all of the textbooks he carried in his backpack (That’s what I locker is for, Dude. Yeah, I got it Max) Max, fiddling with his ever present video recorder, walked alongside him. He muttered to Jake.

“It’s totally true man. After the way you laid him out yesterday, no way he’s gonna let that slide.”

Jake looked straight ahead, to where the afternoon sun was streaming through the windows of the doors at the end of the hall.

“Whatever, I’m done fighting.”

“Be careful.” Baja chimed in. Jake got the message, watch his back.

Surprisingly, bio was more eventful than the last week’s classes, filled with new information of the anatomy of the heart and respiratory system. It was interesting that the heart had it’s own electrical impulse, and maintained itself independent of the brain. Jake lurched out of his seat when the final bell rang, determined to make it on time for the tournament.

If this was going to be a new chapter of his, he’d have to prove it. Being one of the first students out on the field at the end of the day had its perks. It was quiet, even peaceful for a high school, the only sound the crunch of his footsteps on the slightly dry grass. He was almost of campus when a grey truck rolled up to him and a door jerked open, followed by shouts from inside. It was Ryan’s truck, and Jake braced himself. Eric stumbled out, raising himself to his full height and stalking towards Jake. His face was set in a scowl, which looked intimidating when combined with the black eye he sported and crooked nose.

“Eric!” one of the voices shouted again, this time louder and clearer now that a window was rolled down. “You don’t get your ass in here now and you can find some other ride.” Eric stopped mid stride, looking like a malfunctioning automaton, and turned around.

“What the fuck Ryan. You were ready to kill him yesterday, and I can’t even touch him?” he exclaims.

“You had your chance.” Ryan said. Sitting high in the shadows of the driver's seat, only Ryans cheekbones were illuminated in the sunlight. His eyes shone, a peculiar aquamarine shade that he hadn’t noticed before, and he drummed his fingers along the steering wheel. Inside, Jake could Ben, Aaron and another boy talking quietly, watching Jake and Eric. Ryan’s focus was somewhere in between.

“Fuck you, you little bitch!” Eric threw at Jake, who gritted his teeth, and stormed back to the truck. Jake could see his bus coming to a stop down the block in the corner of his eye, but he kept his gaze fixed on the truck as it drove away, and the aquamarine iris fixed on his in the side mirror.


End file.
